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Singapore and Sri Lanka have reaffirmed longstanding and strong relations between the two countries.Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had called on Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena in Colombo during the first leg of a state visit, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release on February 24 (Tuesday).

Tamils voted to send Mahinda Rajapaksa home. But Tamils or Muslims were never worried about corruption or fraud.This is the reality. Tamils are not worried about corruption. They never raised their voices against corrupt leaders. This is because they had many other issues which needed to be sorted out. This does not mean Tamils ignore or neglect corruption. But in…

You may have seen air balloons darting in the sky. Bright and pretty. Air balloons have a burner below its envelope. When profane is fueled into the burner, the balloon goes up, up and away. Air balloons fly when hot air rises. Science has taught me that hot air is lighter than cold air, which means it rises. Air balloons…

Following the last presidential election people are actually beginning to wonder who is wearing the pants in Sri Lanka’s politically muddled corridors of power. The relations between the recently sworn-in Prime Minister and President Maithripala Sirisena have in the nomenclature of diplomacy been fairly cordial up to now.

The interim Budget by the interim finance minister to the interim Parliament with an interim prime minister and an interim Speaker was full of goodies as promised. Concessions for sure, but what about the elections coming up, whose party was being promoted, is something that the Opposition has already raised. What, in fact, stable right now is the executive presidency...

March 2, 1815 is a significant day of the history of Sri Lanka. The British, who subjugated the Kandyan Kingdom, announced a convention between the British and the Kandyans on that day, exactly 200 years ago. The sole independent realm of the Island was this kingdom, and hence this event marked the entire island of Sri Lanka being conquered by…

If there is anyone who is responsible for the British takeover of the Kingdom of Kandy, it is none other than the Cambridge-educated scholar called John D’oyly, or the ‘White Man who chewed betel.’ He was the mastermind, or even the master spy, who caused the fall of the last independent state in Ceylon in 1815.

Anura Manatunga is a Professor of Archeology in the University of Kelaniya. He is also the Director of Center for Asian Studies in the university. A widely-respected scholar, Manatunga has written widely on archeology and history. Q: Before entering the phase after the Kandyan Convention, can you briefly describe what made...

Ravi to be feted - The Government of Sri Lanka has declared February 19 as Saradiel-Karunanayake Day to honor the birthday of 100-day robber king Finance Minister of the Siribiris Presidency. A dedication ceremony will be held at Uthuwankanda where the modern day Saradiel will be inducted into the Robber Kings of South Asia Hall of Infamy.

I always knew that this boy Ranil was special. I was listening to a speech he had made recently. He said, “6.3 million people voted to make me the Prime Minister’. That’s just neat. Only a true blue Kolombian could come up with such sleight of hand. The entire nation knows that what was held on January 8, 2015 was…

There are still some points that people, who subscribe to the imminent collapse scenario of the USA have not addressed. 1. Enforcement - Yes folks, the 1,000 lb gorilla is bankrupt, who is going to walk up to him and take his banana? The US is still the reserve currency, its banks still spread fraud across all markets and the...

The news that the Human Rights Council has agreed to a request made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to postpone publication of the report of a UN investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka was cheered by some in Sri Lanka. Elsewhere there was chagrin, for example an outfit calling itself Sri Lanka Campaign has expressed disappointment.…

Adding another genetically modified food to the growing list of biotech creations, the USDA has now approved the first GMO apple for commercial planting inside the United States. Slated for your dinner table, the new GMO apple is reportedly ‘resistant to turning brown when sliced or bruised.’ Coming just months after the...

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is helping biotech run the latest war in Ukraine. Make no mistake that what is happening in the Ukraine now is deeply tied to the interests of big players in the poison food game. Monsanto has an office in Ukraine. While this does not shout ‘culpability’ from every corner, it is no...

At the risk of once again being labeled an ‘AAP stooge’ by miscellaneous BJP toffs, let it be said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has secured for itself two powerful tailwinds. The first has been snatched from the Congress and some regional outfits, and the second from the BJP. Till the BJP leadership began to act and react as…

As a South East Asian nation, Burma or Myanmar becomes familiar name among international world. It is known most famously for its junta military rule and also for its Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. On January 4, 1948, Burma celebrated its first independence day as an independent republic. The nation was then named the ‘Union of Burma’.…

In the build up to the presidential election last January, the discussion about the executive presidency re-emerged as the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, steadily moved towards an authoritarian State. Quite accurately, fingers were pointed at the powers vested in the Executive President under the Constitution of the country introduced under the first ever Executive President, J.R.Jayewardene. Sri Lankan people have...

We embraced a system where ‘democracy was supposed to be upheld by political parties so that the representation could become easily ensured. If those political parties addressed the issues the problems we experience now would not have been here. What has gone wrong in Sri Lanka is the ‘basis’ on which the thinking and approaches are disciplined and therefore, they...

The shifting sands analogy for Mideast geopolitics is often used and often on the mark, but to that can now be added shifting winds. And by that I mean the some of the money that flows to keep America’s proxy armies and terrorists going is beginning to dry up in the killing fields of Syria. The US policy on ISIL…

The British Isles have been armed against invaders who however always got their way. Britons’ armies massed on the shores of the islands of no avail. The Danes, Norwegians, the Dutch and the Normans always forced their way in and stayed forever. Britons mutated from the squat, dark haired Celts to blue eyed giants by inter racial mixing. Even...